Political Watch 10/31/13

• The Santa Maria Valley Republicans are having their monthly meeting on Nov. 1 at 11:30 a.m. at the Santa Maria Inn, located at 801 S. Broadway in Santa Maria.

• On Oct. 24, Assemblyman Tim Donnelly (R-Twin Peaks) announced from the steps of the State Capital a campaign to recall several state lawmakers who actively supported gun-control bills during the last legislative session. Donnelly held onto a California flag emblazoned with the title of a new nonprofit, “Free California.” Republican strategist Jennifer Kerns, according to the San Jose Mercury News, founded the group. Kerns helped maneuver a recall campaign in Colorado, which successfully kicked two lawmakers out of office in September. The Mercury News reports that Kerns said the list of recall targets would be finalized in the next couple of weeks and then the group will begin collecting signatures on recall petitions. In a video of the press conference posted to the Sacramento Bee’s website, Donnelly said the effort is all about using the political process to hold people accountable to their oath. “Every single one of us who’s elected office swears an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution,” Donnelly said in the video. “Right now in the state of California, the second amendment is on the most fragile ground it’s ever been on.” On his Gov. Jerry Brown signed several gun control bills into law at the beginning of October. Donnelly is a potential gubernatorial candidate for 2014. On his electtimdonnelly.com website, Donnelly calls the gun bills Brown signed as draconian and “the most radical gun control laws in the nation.” Bills signed into law include limits on magazine capacity, a ban on kits used to convert standard guns to semi-automatics, phasing out the use of lead ammunition used in hunting, and banning people from gun ownership for five years if they tell a psychotherapist that they plan to shoot people.

• As Gov. Jerry Brown headed to Washington, D.C. on Oct. 24 to speak at a policy conference hosted by the Center for American Progress, Bob Libal, executive director of Grassroots Leadership, released a statement blasting Brown for holding prisoners in private prisons: “Gov. Brown’s shameless privatization plan is out of touch with a growing national trend toward decreasing dependency on incarceration and rejecting contracts with private prisons,” Libal said in the release.